1916 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 123 



with temporary laboratory accoramodatiou at the Domiuiou Experimental Farm 

 at Lethbridge, Alta. During the past summer a permanent laboratory was built 

 on the Experimental Farm. 



The building measures twenty-three feet by twenty feet and contains four 

 rooms, namely : office, laboratory, spare room and dark room. By arrangement 

 the Director of the Experimental Farms and the Superintendent of the Farm have 

 kindly furnished for experimental purposes a small plot of ground adjoining 

 the laboratory. 



I will not take up more of your time with any rambling remarks of mine; 

 but before closing I should like again to express to our visitors our gratitude 

 to them for coming so far to take part in our proceedings, their presence and 

 contributions to the programme and the discussions are a source of great en- 

 couragement to us and I think they will admit that though our numbers are not 

 large the character of the work that has been described is of the highest nature 

 judged by any standard, and that our enthusiasm could not be excelled. 



THE LIFE HISTORY OF CHERMES COOLEYI GILLETTE IN STANLEY 



PARK, VANCOUVEE, B.C. 



R. N. Chkystal, Field Officer for Forest Insects, Entomological Branch. 

 Department of Agriculture, Ottawa. 



As a result of an enquiry into the serious injury done to the Sitka Spruce in 

 Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C., by the attacks of the above species of gall-making 

 insects of the Genus Chermes, the following notes of its life history and habits in 

 that region are presented. This species was named and described by Professor 

 Gillette, Fort Collins, Colorado, in his paper, " Chermes of Colorado Conifers," 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Jan., 1907; its life cycle also being discussed. 

 Tlie following account in a large measure confirms the results given in the above 

 [mpiT. differing only in the species of spruce attacked, and some minor details. 



The hibernating stem mother on the Spruce, is oval in outline, flat, .5 to .7 

 mm. in length, .3 mm. in width, dark brown to black in colour, with a slight fringe 

 of white waxy threads along the edges of the body, and down the middle of the 

 back. The body of the louse is closely appressed to the twig, and the setiB are 

 deeply sunk in the crevices of the bark. The location on the twig varies, from 

 immediately below the terminal bud to 3 inches down the stem. 



During the lirst week of April, 1915, the stem mothers, having cast their 

 winter coat, began oviposition on the spruce, the waxy secretion increasing to such 

 an extent by this time, as to hide the dark coloured, and now much swollen body 

 of the iiK^ect from view. Several hundred eggs may be laid by this Chermes, as 

 many as 500 being counted in one egg mass; in cases where several stem mothers 

 are located in close proximity to each other on the twig, the egg masses come to- 

 gether, and the waxy secretion becomes very conspicuous. The eggs are light 

 brown in colour, lightly dusted with a whitish powder, each attached to the stem 

 l)v a fine thread. They hatch in about 5 or 6 days, and the young, which are light 

 reddish in colour, locate themselves at the inner bases of the young needles, then 

 just breaking from the l)ud scales. A gall begins to form, and develops with great 

 rapidity, the complete formation taking only a few days in some cases. 



